At the beginning of the 21st century, in Japan and most of the continental European economies, we can observe a shift from what has been labelled a "corporatist" system to more market-oriented structures. Regulatory competition caused by the globalization of markets is increasingly placing the traditional legal institutions of these jurisdictions under severe strain. This is especially true for the services markets. Of these, the markets for financial services and telecommunications services have to adapt most urgently. These adaptations are already underway to varying extents and degrees, made possible by a mixture of de-regulation and re-regulation. In this volume, scholars from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Japan as well as practitioners from various institutions lay out the theoretical foundations and means for these developments. Through critical analysis, the various contributions show what has been reached so far in Europe and Japan and what remains to be achieved in the future.

Over the past ten years, the corporate governance environment in East Asia has undergone a significant transformation. The Asian Financial crisis, together with Japan's long economic malaise, undermined confidence in the corporate structures, governance practices, and regulatory oversight of firms in the region. Since that time, each of the countries in the region has been a hotbed of legislative, judicial, and market activity in the realm of corporate governance. This book takes stock of the most important recent corporate governance changes in the region and the challenges still to be overcome. The contributors pursue this objective, not by describing laundry lists of legal reforms and problems, but by focused in-depth legal analysis on specific issues facing the separate systems in the wake of - sometimes in spite of - the voluminous reforms and market changes of the past decade. Written by the leading corporate law scholars and policy advisors in East Asia and some of the most renowned scholars of comparative corporate governance in the United States, the papers are methodologically united in their careful attention to the impact, and limitations, of legal reforms on corporate governance in East Asia today.

Over the past ten years, the corporate governance environment in East Asia has undergone a significant transformation. The Asian Financial crisis, together with Japan's long economic malaise, undermined confidence in the corporate structures, governance practices, and regulatory oversight of firms in the region. Since that time, each of the countries in the region has been a hotbed of legislative, judicial, and market activity in the realm of corporate governance. This book takes stock of the most important recent corporate governance changes in the region and the challenges still to be overcome. The contributors pursue this objective, not by describing laundry lists of legal reforms and problems, but by focused in-depth legal analysis on specific issues facing the separate systems in the wake of - sometimes in spite of - the voluminous reforms and market changes of the past decade. Written by the leading corporate law scholars and policy advisors in East Asia and some of the most renowned scholars of comparative corporate governance in the United States, the papers are methodologically united in their careful attention to the impact, and limitations, of legal reforms on corporate governance in East Asia today.

This authoritative guide to the Geneva Securities Convention is the first and only UNIDROIT backed analysis of the content of the international treaty. It streamlines the otherwise complicated and numerous transactions of intermediated securities providing easy access for practitioners and scholars in the field. The Commentary is written by participants to the negotiations and discussions which resulted in the final version of the treaty.
The Geneva Securities Convention was developed as a result of the change in the way that securities are held and highlights the position of intermediated securities at the core of the international financial system. The Convention includes key provisions for governing intermediated securities designed to harmonise domestic law and clarify points of difficulty. The general introduction to the commentary sets out the reasons for developing the Convention and the principal concepts underlying its development. The main part of the commentary follows the structure of the Convention and is arranged on an article-by-article basis. The treatment of each article is subdivided into three main parts: An introduction explaining the main goal of that article; a section setting out the genesis of the provision during intergovernmental negotiation; and a part discussing in depth the application of the provision with reference to practical examples.
The Convention is a highly complex instrument and the commentary provides much-needed guidance to the application and interpretation of its provisions. This is a must-have reference for lawyers and scholars interested in financial law, as well as securities intermediaries, clearing houses, banks and government officials.

Increased regulatory competition has sharpened the comparative awareness of advantages or disadvantages of different national models of political economy, economic organization, governance and regulation. Although institutional change is slow and subject to functional complementarities as well as social and cultural entrenchment, at least some features of successful modern market economies have been in the process of converging over the last decades. The most important change is a shift in governance from state to the market. As bureaucratic ex-ante control is replaced by judicial ex-post control, administrative discretion is replaced by the rule of law as guidelines for the economy. Furthermore, at least to some extent, public enforcement is being reduced in favor of private enforcement by way of disclosure, enhanced liability, and correspondent litigation for damages. Corporatist approaches to governance are giving way to market approaches, and outsider and market-oriented corporate governance models seem to be replacing insider-based regimes. This transition is far from smooth and poses a daunting challenge to regulators and academics trying to redefine the fundamental governance and regulatory setting. They are confronted with the task of making or keeping the national regulatory structure attractive to investors in the face of competitive pressures from other jurisdictions to adopt state-of-the-art solutions. At the same time, however, they must establish a coherent institutional framework that accommodates the efficient, modern rules with the existing and hard-to-change institutional setting. These challenges - put in a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective - are the subject of the book. As a reflection of the transnationality of the issues addressed, the world's three leading economies and their legal systems are included on an equal basis: the EU, the U.S., and Japan across each of the subtopics of corporations, bureaucracy and regulation, markets, and intermediaries.

This is the long-awaited third edition of this highly regarded comparative overview of corporate law. This edition has been comprehensively revised and updated to reflect the profound changes in corporate law and governance practices that have taken place since the previous edition. These include numerous regulatory changes following the financial crisis of 2007-09 and the changing landscape of governance, especially in the US, with the ever more central role of institutional investors as (active) owners of corporations. The geographic scope of the coverage has been broadened to include an important emerging economy, Brazil. In addition, the book now incorporates analysis of the burgeoning use of corporate law to protect the interests of "external constituencies" without any contractual relationship to a company, in an attempt to tackle broader social and economic problems. The authors start from the premise that corporations (or companies) in all jurisdictions share the same key legal attributes: legal personality, limited liability, delegated management, transferable shares, and investor ownership. Businesses using the corporate form give rise to three basic types of agency problems: those between managers and shareholders as a class; controlling shareholders and minority shareholders; and shareholders as a class and other corporate constituencies, such as corporate creditors and employees. After identifying the common set of legal strategies used to address these agency problems and discussing their interaction with enforcement institutions, The Anatomy of Corporate Law illustrates how a number of core jurisdictions around the world deploy such strategies. In so doing, the book highlights the many commonalities across jurisdictions and reflects on the reasons why they may differ on specific issues. The analysis covers the basic governance structure of the corporation, including the powers of the board of directors and the shareholder meeting, both when management and when a dominant shareholder is in control. It then analyses the role of corporate law in shaping labor relationships, protection of external stakeholders, relationships with creditors, related-party transactions, fundamental corporate actions such as mergers and charter amendments, takeovers, and the regulation of capital markets. The Anatomy of Corporate Law has established itself as the leading book in the field of comparative corporate law. Across the world, students and scholars at various stages in their careers, from undergraduate law students to well-established authorities in the field, routinely consult this book as a starting point for their inquiries.

This is the long-awaited third edition of this highly regarded comparative overview of corporate law. This edition has been comprehensively revised and updated to reflect the profound changes in corporate law and governance practices that have taken place since the previous edition. These include numerous regulatory changes following the financial crisis of 2007-09 and the changing landscape of governance, especially in the US, with the ever more central role of institutional investors as (active) owners of corporations. The geographic scope of the coverage has been broadened to include an important emerging economy, Brazil. In addition, the book now incorporates analysis of the burgeoning use of corporate law to protect the interests of "external constituencies" without any contractual relationship to a company, in an attempt to tackle broader social and economic problems. The authors start from the premise that corporations (or companies) in all jurisdictions share the same key legal attributes: legal personality, limited liability, delegated management, transferable shares, and investor ownership. Businesses using the corporate form give rise to three basic types of agency problems: those between managers and shareholders as a class; controlling shareholders and minority shareholders; and shareholders as a class and other corporate constituencies, such as corporate creditors and employees. After identifying the common set of legal strategies used to address these agency problems and discussing their interaction with enforcement institutions, The Anatomy of Corporate Law illustrates how a number of core jurisdictions around the world deploy such strategies. In so doing, the book highlights the many commonalities across jurisdictions and reflects on the reasons why they may differ on specific issues. The analysis covers the basic governance structure of the corporation, including the powers of the board of directors and the shareholder meeting, both when management and when a dominant shareholder is in control. It then analyses the role of corporate law in shaping labor relationships, protection of external stakeholders, relationships with creditors, related-party transactions, fundamental corporate actions such as mergers and charter amendments, takeovers, and the regulation of capital markets. The Anatomy of Corporate Law has established itself as the leading book in the field of comparative corporate law. Across the world, students and scholars at various stages in their careers, from undergraduate law students to well-established authorities in the field, routinely consult this book as a starting point for their inquiries.